Field
The disclosed concept relates generally to circuit interrupter diagnostic systems, and more particularly, to circuit interrupter diagnostic systems for obtaining information from circuit interrupters.
Background Information
Circuit interrupters, such as for example and without limitation, circuit breakers, are typically used to protect electrical circuitry from damage due to an overcurrent condition, such as an overload condition, a short circuit, or another fault condition, such as an arc fault or a ground fault. Circuit breakers typically include separable contacts. The separable contacts may be operated either manually by way of an operator handle or automatically in response to a detected fault condition. Typically, such circuit breakers include an operating mechanism, which is designed to rapidly open the separable contacts, and a trip mechanism, such as a trip unit, which senses a number of fault conditions to trip the breaker automatically. Upon sensing a fault condition, the trip unit trips the operating mechanism to a trip state, which moves the separable contacts to their open position.
It is well known to employ trip units which utilize a microprocessor to detect various types of overcurrent trip conditions and provide various protection functions, such as, for example, a long delay trip, a short delay trip, an instantaneous trip, and/or a ground fault trip. The long delay trip function protects the load served by the protected electrical system from overloads and/or overcurrents. The short delay trip function can be used to coordinate tripping of downstream circuit breakers in a hierarchy of circuit breakers. The instantaneous trip function protects the electrical conductors to which the circuit breaker is connected from damaging overcurrent conditions, such as short circuits. As implied, the ground fault trip function protects the electrical system from faults to ground.
Circuit breakers have a variety of related diagnostic information. Some circuit breakers can be physically connected to an electronic device to transfer the diagnostic information from the circuit breaker to the electronic device. However, this process is time-consuming and requires the circuit breaker to have a connector that is accessible to a technician. Some other circuit breakers have a display that can display the diagnostic information. However, this approach is costly. Additionally, the diagnostic information is not transferred from the circuit breaker to another device.
There is thus room for improvement in circuit interrupter diagnostic systems.